Stepan Turns To Q4 Loss, Sales Drop

(RTTNews) - Stepan Company (SCL), a specialty chemicals manufacturer, Tuesday reported a loss of $1.19 million, or $0.05 per share for the fourth quarter, compared with profit of $10.83 million of or $0.47 per share, in the prior year.

Excluding special items, the company posted a profit of $7.49 million, or $0.33 per share.

Sales for the quarter declined to $532.13 million from $627.18 million in the previous year.

Analysts on average, polled by Thomson-Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.37 per share on revenue of $534.52 million for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Additionally, the company's Board has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.375 per share, payable on March 15, to stockholders of record on March 1.